photography

[Dave Monroe]

--- mikebailey at speakeasy.net wrote:
 
> Dimly I recall from Victorian lit, Matthew Arnold on
> "Hebraic vs Hellenic" wherein he mentioned the
> Jewish ban on graven images, and made a connection
> that seemed rather unique to me: the Hellenic
> culture was transmitted by and fraught with statuary
> and pictures, whereas the Hebraic culture was much
> more Word-oriented.  Until reading that, I had
> always figured that the ban on "graven images" was
> intended to stave off competition from other gods,
> mainly; but adding a dash of McLuhan to the mix
> (medium is the message) it became interesting to me
> to think about how eschewing depiction affects the
> way someone would think.
> 
> Today's culture seems more Hellenic than Hebraic. 
> The iconoclastic Puritans' moved against statues and
> paintings; and the printing press of course.  But
> the rise of photography, movies, and tv.  Of course
> there's an interplay as both sectors regard and
> comment upon each other... 
> 
> As an author, Mr Pynchon would seem to be a natural
> candidate to prefer the "Hebraic" mindset.

See, e.g., ...

Boman, Thorlief.  Hebrew Thought Compared With Greek. 
   New York: W.W. Norton and Co., 1960.

http://www2.wwnorton.com/catalog/backlist/000534.htm

Faur, Jose.  Golden Doves with Silver Dots:
   Semiotics and Textuality in Rabbinic Tradition.
   Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1986.

Handelman, Susan A.  The Slayers of Moses:
   The Emergence of Rabbinic Interpretation in
   Modern Literary Theory. Albany: SUNY P, 1982.

http://www.sunypress.edu/details.asp?id=50887


 
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